As i set out on my ride this morning it was foggy, and creepy outside, i set out on a 40 mile loop that I planned to take just over 2.5 hours. I quickly realized that I was definitely not feeling my best, but I decided to keep going, so I continued riding southwest out of Morgantown, and went over some really sweet hills compared to home, which I love. I even got 5th place on a nearby Category 4 Strava KOM, I have further plans to take it, now that I know it exists. However about 12 or 13 miles into my ride I was just rolling along the road and I came to where I could see the driveway of a house through the trees, and standing right on the edge of the driveway ready to run was a moderately large dog, I am not usually afraid of dogs, however when I am by my self in the middle of the west Virginia country side, I am considerably more afraid of dogs. So I turned around briefly and went back around the corner to reassess the situation and found a route home. I took into account the fact that I had run out of clean clothes, so I had to do laundry, the fact that I only planned 1.5 hours today, and that I already felt like crap. I found a route that would take me to the northern ish end of the rail trail, that way i would know where I was going. As i got going again I found myself missing a turn, and then refinding where I was. This had me going over a very narrow bridge and on a narrower-still gravel road, which was cool. However I did find myself to be on hyper paranoia status as it comes to dogs, I even added length to my route back to avoid a narrow road. i ended up finding that to be pointless because I was pseudo chased by a large sounding aggressive dog. I finally found my self on friendly looking roads, and cruised on home hitting high speeds(for me) on the downhills, and struggling up the climbs with my blocked legs.
All in all it was a great ride, and really awesome to get out after 3 days off the bike, I am trying to work more time on the bike into my schedule, but it is hard right now as my classes are scattered throughout the day. I wish I could have them start early and end early so I could plan for the same thing every day. but hey, you live, and learn, and not all classes are available early, so I am making do with what I got.
The only question I have is:
Where do all the people ride around here to avoid getting attacked by dogs.
Have a great day. Files coming later maybe?
Thanks,
Nick Caddenhead
nickcaddenhead 